Javier Gomez Wins Again In Auckland

Spain’s Javier Gomez kept his undefeated streak at the Auckland World Triathlon Series intact, recording a comprehensive win over Jonathan Brownlee in the first WTS event of the 2014 season in New Zealand.

Gomez had already recorded wins on the Auckland course in 2012 and 2013, and while pushed for most of the run by Brownlee, proved too strong again on the tough, hilly course. After Mario Mola’s New Plymouth World Cup win two weeks ago blemished his completely perfect record in New Zealand, Gomez was happy to be back on top.

“It was another great race here in New Zealand,” Gomez said. “I felt really good all the time, the water I felt good, the bike was really hard, some of us worked pretty hard to keep the gap between the second group and during the run I tried many times to drop Jonathan, he was pretty strong, but on the last lap I had something left and I just gave everything and didn’t look back. It was a pretty good race.”

It was Brownlee’s first race of the 2014 season and he gave full credit to Gomez, as they added yet another chapter to their amazing rivalry.

Behind the two sport’s heavyweights, a fractured field opened it up for a first-time podium place. While Joao Silva, Mario Mola, Sven Riederer, Steffen Justus and other pre-race medal contenders ended-up in a chase-pack that left T2 two minutes behind the leaders, a trans-tasman battle emerged between New Zealand’s Ryan Sissons and a trio of Australians, Dan Wilson, Ryan Bailie and Aaron Royle. While Sissons fell away, the Australian trio ran shoulder to shoulder until the final kilometer, when first Bailie surged, then Wilson and Royle. But Royle backed his sprint, just as when he won the Under23 world title on the Auckland course in 2012.